Soma Dark
Soma Dark are a five-piece melodic/progressive metal band based in the Greater Manchester area. Their debut album, Begin, is out now on Casket records! Order either from our Merchandise page, ITunes, Amazon, or from the band themselves at gigs.
News
17th May 2013
It's here! our new video (above), a cover version we recorded of All The Things She Said, by t.A.T.u! Just a bit of fun and mischief, but seems to have become a bit of hit for us. Many thanks to Mike Langley from LPfilms UK for directing and producing the video for us. Top work by a top chap!
In other news we have some exciting gigs to announce, we are playing the main stage at Headlander festival in Stockport on 21 June, we on at 21:15. Then on 29th June we're playing the Castle Rocks Music Festival in Wilmslow, we're on at 21:45. Lastly we are playing Dry Bar in Manchester on 10th August (more details on this one soon.) Do come and have some fun with us, we'll be playing lots of new material (plus the most popular of our older stuff).
Lastly if you want to give us some support and keep more upto date with our activities, then do please follow our twitter feed @somadarkmusic, our facebook page; https://en-gb.facebook.com/SomaDark and our reverbnation profile http://www.reverbnation.com/somadark. These things really help us with promoting our music and gigs, so go on, you know you want to!
Till next time, thanks for you all your continued support and keep it Dark, keep it Soma!
27th April 2013
Hello! Lots of developments to report this month. Firstly you'll have probably noticed that we have a new logo. George Thatcher from melodic metallers Spectral Pain kindly designed it for us, cheers George! As we have a new logo so we have updated our merch, we now have new t-shirts, stickers and badges too! We offering some very reasonable deals, so head over to our merch page and take a look.
In other exciting news we shot a new video this week, for a cover version we have recorded (details to be released later, all very hush-hush!). The video was shot at a quite incredible venue, New Mills Art Theatre. Michael Langley from LPfilms UK is producing the video for us. We are really enjoying working with him and can't wait to to see the results. Michael was also the chap who arranged and composed the strings for the alternative version of 2505 from our album Begin, you can see it here.
We are still working hard on recording our new album; between pesky things like day jobs. We also have a couple of gigs booked in, but are waiting for confirmation of details before publicising, so watch this space! Remember you can keep more regularly updated with our mischief and manoeuvres by following us on twitter @somadarkmusic. Till next time, thank you for your continued support, and keep it Dark, keep it Soma!
28th March 2013
About time for an update... We're still beavering away at laying down our new album, guitar tracking is going well, see Stu and Arun in the photos above and below slaving away! We're also working on planning a new video for a very special cover version which we think you will like. In other exciting news we have updated our logo (see top of this page), and so have ordered some new merch, which you'll be able to buy very soon on our merch page. We are also in discussions about various gig opportunities and hope to have some news for you soon. Lastly thanks to the Rock Show on Voice FM in Southampton for playing our track 2505 from Begin, first time that particular track has had airplay, nice. Remember you can keep even more up to date with our activities by following us on Twitter.
19th January 2013
Greetings all, excited to report that all the drum tracks for our new album have now been recorded. Our drummer Mac did an awesome job getting it all down in three days in Castle Rock Studios. You can see some photos of the recording on our photo page, and a video of Mac up to his mischief on our video page.
In other news our guitarist Stuart's brother (DJ/Producer Jon Craig), has recorded and mixed a trimmed down version of the track 2505 from our album Begin. We went into SSR Manchester to lay down our parts, this time acoustic guitars were used. Not only that but Jon has put a string section on it. The strings were arranged and conducted by our friend Michael Langley. We think the two of them have put a whole new spin on the track. You can check it out below or on our video page with our other videos, or on our youtube channel.
2nd January 2013
A Very Warm Welcome and a Happy New Year to you all!
Our last gig of 2012 was on Halloween night at the Town Hall Tavern in Stockport, and we dressed up in fancy dress; Stu as Darth Vader, Mike as Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde, Mac as a demented surgeon, Luke as the Grim Reaper and Arun as a 80's glam rock star! You can see a few photos on the photos page on this website (if anyone has any others we'd love to see them, please email us, thanks!). It was a really fun night with a good crowd, even though we're playing on the smallest stage we ever have done! Also playing in wigs and masks made us ridiculously hot, our respect for Slipknot has grown tenfold!
The last few months of 2012 were somewhat hectic for all the band, as Christmas sped down upon us, but fear not, we are busy and have big plans for 2013. This weekend we are going into the studio to start recording our new (2nd) album. As we've mentioned before we are super-excited about the strength of our new material and can't wait to share it with you. We have already started dropping new material into our live sets, if you want to get a flavour of it then head over to our video page where you'll see some footage shot at our gig at the Green Star in Stoke. Obviously the audio quality isn't the best, but it will give you an idea. Many thanks to Martin Kessel for shooting it, and for taking some great photos, which you can see on our photo page on this website.
In other news we received an email from the company behind the RockBand game/song and we were very pleasantly surprised by how many people have downloaded it to play along to! There are even some videos on youtube that players have uploaded of themselves playing along to our song, which is both flattering and somewhat weird for us to watch!
Lastly, we have some exciting news that Mike our singer and his fiance Claire are expecting their first child in 2013! Congratulations to them both!
So from all of the band we wish you a very happy and successful 2013, and thank you for all your on going support which means so much to us!
25th October 2012
Come and join us on Halloween night next week (31st obviously!). We'll be bringing the darkness to Stockport at the Town Hall Tavern!
24th October 2012
Due to circumstances beyond our control our gig on 10th November at Zoo has been CANCELLED. Sorry! But we do now have an extra gig, next Wednesday 31st October (Halloween), we will be playing at the Town Hall Tavern in Stockport. In the meantime we are playing at Stoke this Sunday (28th October) at the Green Star Pub.
6th October 2012
Fancy yourself as a guitar/bass/drum hero? Well now you can test your chops out with one of our songs Resolute, now on RockBand for Xbox and PS3! You can see the in-game footage in the video above. There is also a double bass drum pedal version, which you can see here.
OK, so we have some gigs coming up, first up we are playing The Roadhouse on 18th October, along with Damagescape and Jacknife Holiday, doors 7:30, we're on at 8:45. After that we're off down to Stoke on 28th October, playing at The Green Star pub, with Stuka Squadron, Gone Til Winter, Audio Illusion and Greenfire. Then we're back in Manchester on 10th Novemver, headlining at Zoo (rest of bill to be confirmed).
Other than that we are drilling our new material into shape ready to begin recording very soon, we'll be droping new material into our upcoming gigs, if you like them half as much as we do it should be awesome!
We've had some more radio play over the past few weeks; our track Resolute was played on the Metal Ashes of Phoenix show on Phoenix FM, Faultline was played on Pedal To The Metal on Shouted.fm (German station), and then a few days later they rounded off their show with Resolute, must like us, cheers! Lastly we had a very nice review from Concrete Web (In Belgium), as well as being very positive, it was refreshing to get a review where the reviewer had done some background homework on the band and had clearly given the album a proper listen, thank you!
So until next time, we hope to see you at one of our upcoming gigs, or to see your brilliant performace of our song on RockBand uploaded to Youtube!
27th August 2012
A marriage proposal in the middle of a live set? Never a dull moment in the Soma Dark camp! Our gig at Moho was a fantastic evening, great crowd, great sound and a quality professional venue, the evening was topped off by Mike proposing to his girlfriend Claire in the middle of our last song, thankfully she said yes! Our congratulations to both of them, we had no idea that Mike was going to do this, you lunatic! Great night, thanks to everyone who came down, we'd be nothing without your support. You can find more photos from the gig on our photo pages, with two shoots, one from Sabrina Ramdoyal ( Carved Photography, SR Photography, This Is Not a Scene), and another by Heather Mc (Get Your Rock Out), many thanks to both, a proper pro job.
Also on the evening Arun and Stu were interviewed for GetYourRockOut.com, you can read a review of the gig and watch the video interview on their website, Click Here. The Moho gig marked the end of our gigging cycle for our debut album Begin, we will now be pushing full ahead with dropping more of our new material into the set at gigs, and recording of the new material will be starting imminently.
We had some more radio play this weekend with our track Resolute playlisted on the Amazing Radio Rock Show, thanks!
We have upcoming gigs on 18th October at the Roadhouse and 28th October in Stoke, more details coming soon. We should also have some news on new merch soon. Till next time, keep it dark, buy some merch, spread the word!
16th July 2012
Hello again! Quite a lot going on at the moment, firstly the above poster is for our upcoming gig at Moho in Manchester, on Saturday 4th August, we are supporting Forever Never on their final tour ever! Should be a cracking night, Incassum and Cell-4 are also on the bill with us. Tickets are £6 and available from the the 'merch' page on this website. Going to be a busy night so get your tickets in advance; it's £6 for four great bands on a Saturday night, in a great venue, you know it makes sense!
We've recently had some more radio play, our song Passengers of Time was played on the Metal Ashes of Phoenix show on Phoenix FM , Faultline was played on the Metal Warehouse show on Radio Hoogeveen in the Netherlands, and on the 3rd of July Stu and Arun were guests on the Siko Ward show on The Cat radio station. Many thanks to all involved!
Other than all of that we're still working on the new material, and will also have some new merch on the way soon. As always you can keep even more up to date by following us on twitter: @somadarkmusic
13th June 2012
Greetings and salutations! We've been pretty busy since the last news update. Firstly we have a new music video, again produced by the excellent Mycho Productions, you can view it above or in our video section of this website, the footage was all shot at our gig at Rumes in Preston, we hope you like it. In other exciting news our song Resolute is almost ready to come out on the RockBand game platform, we've seen a demo of it, and its awesome! (and rather unnerving!), we'll let you know the moment it's available to you can fulfil your dreams of pretending to be us!
On the gig front we did a mini tour a couple of weeks ago, back to Hollywood and Vine in Hull on Saturday 26th May and the Victoria in Stoke on the Sunday. Was a blast of a road trip, much hilarity ensued, although waking up in the Hollywood and Vine at 8am to the sound of Flogging Molly at full volume didn't quite have us rolling in the aisles (although we are of course grateful for the accommodation!). We were back at Whittles on 31st May, we always enjoy playing there, great crowd, good sound, nice people..and they pay us, which is a bonus! We played one of our longest sets ever, of around an hour and ten, and we were chuffed with the crowd reaction. Thanks to all who came down.
Next up on the bookings at the moment is Moho in Manchester on Saturday 4th August where we will be sharing the bill with Forever Never and Incassum.
Till next time, keep it dark (and buy some goddamn merch so we can eat!)
24th April 2012
Hello again, after a brief lull from giging, we're back with avengence! Firstly on the gig front we are playing Whittles in Oldham this Friday (27th April) with Suicidle Pigeons (their spelling not my typo!), and at The Hollywood and Vine (Hull). with Bulletproof on Saturday (28th April) . We always have fun at Whittles with their lively crowd, and we had a blast in Hull last time we played there, so we are very happy to be invited back to headline.
Last week we went down to Grand Central in Manchester to witness the last ever gig from the mighty Incidium, who we've shared a stage with many times. It an awesome gig, if somewhat tinged with sadness. The guys are going to be making their music available for free on their facebook page.
Moving on to happier and exciting news, our song Resolute is being made into a playable song on the RockBand game empire! We'll release more details when we have them.
Lastly we have a new video coming out for our song Passengers of Time, again recorded and produced by Mycho video productions. It was shot live at the RagnaRock night in Preston. We've seen an early draft and it looks great!
26th February 2012
Lots of exciting news. First and foremost our video has now been released, you can view it in our brand spanking new video section of this website. Alternatively you can visit our youtube channel. We're really happy with it, big thanks to Mycho video productions! We recently played the RagnaRock night in Preston which was a lot of fun, and made even more so by the fact that we also had a van and driver, who helped out with load in too, cheers Dave! Our next booked gigs are Whittles in Oldham on 27th April and then we'll be returning to The Hollywood and Vine in Hull on the 28th April, last time we played there Kyrbgrinder were on the same bill, excellent live act, catch them if you can.
We have been recieving some radio airplay, plus Stu and Arun we're interviewed about the band by the Angel of Metal on Preston FM, you can hear the interview here
We received an excellent review of Begin my Metalville.co.uk, you can read it here (scroll down the page).
Lastly, in other (sad) news, our good friends Incidium are calling it a day, do yourself a favour and get down to their last gig on April 19th at Grand Central in Manchester, we'll all be there and Arun our guitarist is playing with them (it's also his birthday). Till next time, keep it dark, and buy some merch!
1st February 2012
Thanks to everyone who came down to our gig at Manchester Academy, we're still buzzing from it! It was incredible to get such a reaction and from a lot of people who were new to us. There are some photos of the night on the photo section of this website. Next up for us is the RagnaRock night in Preston, should be a really great night, get yourself down if you can.
11th January 2012
Photos section of the website updated, check it out.
5th January 2012
A very Happy New Year to all our friends and supporters! After a short break over Christmas we are now back into full flow for the New Year. First and foremost we are looking forward to our gig at Manchester Academy on 20th January, not got a ticket yet? Get on it, they are going fast! We are on in Club Academy, at around 8:45, it should be a storming night with some other excellent bands also on the bill. Get tickets from our merch page.
In other news we have had a sneak preview of our upcoming video for Resolute, and it's looking brutal! The finished video will be unleashed in the very near future.
Loud-Stuff.com who gave us such a detailed and glowing review of our album also interviewed us recently, you can read the interview by clicking here. Cheers to them for thier support, not only for us but the Manchester Metal Scene in general.
Lastly it would really mean a lot to us if you would take a moment to follow this link to vote for us to be Band of The Month for February on Loud-Stuff.com. Till next time, keep it dark!
14th December 2011
A really ace review of 'Begin' by Loud-Stuff.com, check it out!
13th December 2011
*Breaking News* Due to unforseen circumstances we have had to cancel both our gigs this week. We're very sorry to have to do this. We will be back with avengence for the gig on the 20th January.
4th December 2011
As you can tell by the image above, tickets are now available for our gig at the Manchester Academy, either click on the image to purchase or see any band member. Its only £6, it's a Friday night, it's the Academy, what the hell you waiting for?!
In other news our debut album Begin is now on Spotify, so you can try before you buy. This week we also recieved a very nice review of Begin from Manchester Music, click here to read it. Meanwhile we are continuing to drill our new material, and looking forward to our December gigs at Whittles on the 15th and Hark To Towler on the 18th. As always check our gigs page, for details.
19th November 2011
Lots going on at the moment, a couple of weeks ago we shot our upcoming video for Resolute, it was filmed and is being produced by the excellent Mycho Music Video Production, the above image is a teaser posters for it, we're very excited and can't wait to see the finished result.
On the gig front we had a storming night at Baker's Vault in Stockport, was a great turnout and atmosphere and we really enjoyed it, thanks to everyone for coming down, and for buying our merch! The gig was also an opportunity for us to bid our friend John Connor a fond bon voyage for his year long travels to New Zealand, John has been a good mate of the band and has given us support at a lot of our gigs, cheers John! Our next gigs are Whittles in Oldham (semi-final of battle of the bands) on the 15th Dec, and Hark To Towler (all day and night metal festival) on 18th Dec. We are thrilled to be playing the legendary Manchester Academy in January (Friday 20th) ..exact details to be confirmed. We are also putting arrangements in place to go on tour in the new year, again we'll post details on the gig page and all our other web places when things are confirmed.
On the album front Begin is now available on ITunes! We love to get feedback from our fans, so do get in touch on our facebook or twitter feed and let us know what you thought of the album, favourite tracks etc. We've also been getting some radio play over the last few weeks, on radio stations as far apart as the Netherlands and Portsmouth, plus Manchester's Real Radio XS have been doing a great service plugging our gigs and those of other bands on the Manchester Metal scene. In addition to all of this we're working hard on the second album material, which we're hammering into shape, we're already incorperating some of it into our live sets and it seems to be going down really well!
30th October 2011
Busy times in the Soma Dark camp, we're still buzzing from our gig on Friday night at Zanzibar in Liverpool, awesome venue, crowd and sound, thanks for making us so welcome, it really means a lot to us! We'll be back as soon as you'll have us. In other news if you look at the top of this page you'll se that we have a shiny new tab labelled 'merchandise' this will take you to our store where you can order a copy of our CD, this is the quickest way for you to get your hands on it at the moment (apart from coming to our gigs of course!). Next up on our agenda is our headline gig at Baker's Vault in Stockport on Thursday (3rd November) where we'lll be playing a full one hour set. Do check our gig page (which we update regularly) for other upcoming gigs. Till next time, Happy Halloween!
16th October 2011
We have received our copies of the album and are delighted with the quality of the CD and the artwork. Copies can be ordered from Amazon or from our section of the Casket records website. Unfortunately our video shoot has been delayed due to the director being ill (hope you get well soon), but gigs are going well, we took part in the Battle of The Bands at Whittles in Oldham on Thursday and are through to the Semi-Final! Thanks for you your support, was a great gig. We are headlining at Hark to Towler in Bury this coming Thursday (19th October), along with Arke, The Aftermath and Dirty Habit, should be a cracking night, get yourself down there!
5th October 2011
Exciting news, our debut album Begin is now available for pre-order on Amazon! Released date is 17th October. CLICK HERE FOR LINK
9th September 2011
Apologies for lack of updates on here, some tedious technical problems, but all back up now. Its been a busy few months with a couple of gigs back at The Roadhouse (Manchester) and at Whittles (Oldham) with the excellent Billy Boy In Poison, check them out if you haven't already; their video is well worth a watch, very very funny.
We also played at the Glaston-Bury metal festival in..well in Bury of course, at The Flying Shuttle, well supported gig raising money for Bury Hospice, Thanks to all who came down and witnessed our hard man of metal (Arun) being chased by a wasp on stage!
Our (very long) awaitied debut album is still on the way, but the release date has been put back to October now, Also in October we will be recording a professional video for our track Resolute. Check out the gig page on this website for our upcoming shows including our first visit to Liverpool with our freinds Incidium. You can see photos of the recent gigs (and others) on our facebook page, and do follow us on Twitter for more updates.
Older News
Liverpool gig booked with Incidium, at the Zanzibar club, 28th October 2011.
Attention to our Salford fans (and the rest of course!), we'll be playing at the excellent Crescent pub (which if you need any extra incentive has been in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for 23 consecutive years!) on Sat 2nd July with the awesome Not Above Evil and Kranius
Our next gig will be 29th June, at Hark to Towler in Bury, with Incassum and Ziyos. We are booking gigs all the time, so please keep checking the gig page.
New gig booked - 7th June 2011 at Frog and Bucket, Preston, with Super Mutant and Killshot
On Tuesday 24th May Soma Dark will play in the Semi-Final of Metal To The Masses, Battle For Bloodstock at Grand Central in Manchester, please come down and support us, going to be great night of metal with 5 excellent bands playing. Kicks off at 7:30, we're on at 8:25
